The long-awaited Self-Employment Urgent Reform Law has been published in the BOE and from today the main changes are:
- Social Security surcharges for debts are reduced during the first month of delay. In this sense, the debt surcharge for social contributions will be reduced from 20% to 10% during the first month.
- With respect to multi-activity workers (self-employed and salaried workers at the same time), 50% of the excess contributions will be directly reimbursed.
- The Flat Rate, as planned, increases its duration. From the initial six months to 50 euros per month of payment, it goes to a full year. Check this and other details about the new flat rate for freelancers in the following link.
- The new Law also includes important improvements in the conciliation section. From an exclusive flat rate for mothers to subsidized contracts for family members. Consult all the measures in this regard in this precise analysis on family conciliation measures of the new Law.
- Related to the above, the Law also includes changes in the bonuses for the self-employed during maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or risk during pregnancy or lactation. In these cases, and under certain conditions, the self-employed person will have a 100% bonus on their fee. The age of aid in the case of care for minors is also raised. Previously, you could receive hiring bonuses to care for children under the age of seven. Now, that age advances to twelve.
- Regarding the fiscal area, new parameters are modified and applied that will allow deducting household expenses for those self-employed who work from home. A new rule for living expenses is also established, which will allow deducting a fixed amount of meal expenses per month.
- For the first case, you must declare in the tax census which part of your home you use. If you have declared a proportion of 30% (maximum allowed) on an area of 100 square meters, the percentage to be applied will be 30% on 30 meters; in practice only 9%. You can include costs for rent, electricity, water, telephone and Internet.
- With respect to living expenses, the self-employed may deduct allowances, worth up to 26 euros per day. Of course, it must be justified with invoices and payment only by electronic means.
- The regulations will also solve an injustice that the self-employed had been suffering: coverage for accidents in itinere. It will be considered a work accident when the self-employed person has a car accident returning from his place of work. Question that was recognized in salaried employees.
- The daily contribution will also be a reality for the self-employed. Self-employed workers will only pay for the effective days of registration within a month. Until now, if this professional signed up on the 20th of a month, he would still pay the full month's fee, even if he was only active for ten days in that period.
- Another important novelty has to do with the compatibility of self-employment and the collection of retirement. The new rule establishes that if you have an employee it will be possible to make 100% of the pension compatible with continuity as a self-employed person.
Not all the measures included in the new Self-Employed Law come into effect immediately. Some of them will do so from 2018.
